A new apprenticeship and internship programme has been launched by Oberoi Business Hub, days after its founder took part in The Apprentice.

Kavita Oberoi OBE was a panellist on the programme’s aftershow You’re Fired on BBC2 last week.

The successful entrepreneur – who has three businesses in Pride Park – has now decided to follow in Lord Sugar’s footsteps by giving young talent an opportunity to shine.

Kavita said an apprenticeship and internship programme is being developed at Oberoi Business Hub, which offers back office support for a range of companies, from sole traders to multi-national businesses.

Kavita – also widely known for her appearance on Channel 4’s Secret Millionaire – said she decided to launch a formal apprenticeship and internship programme after being impressed by an intern who joined the hub in May.

Molly Roberts, from Chesterfield, is doing a one-year internship. The 20-year-old will then return to the University of Salford, in Manchester, to complete her business information technology degree.

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Kavita, who was awarded an OBE in 2014 for services to entrepreneurship and start-up businesses, said: “The resounding success of Molly’s placement at Oberoi Business Hub unpins the company’s decision to develop a formal apprenticeship and Internship programme for graduates. The programme will be led by our commercial director, Sam Grove. Sam has a vision to not only develop and drive the apprenticeship and internship programme for the Oberoi Business Hub, but also look to promote emerging talent across the pharmaceutical industry, which ties in with our healthcare arm Oberoi Consulting.

“The graduate programme will be aimed at supporting graduates in find suitable placements with Oberoi’s pharmaceutical clients – roles which are becoming more freely available as a preferred route of recruitment for many companies.”

Kavita Oberoi (right) appeared on last week's The Apprentice: You're Fired programme with Michelle Ackerley and Russell Kane

Sam said nurturing young talent was the best way to build a business for the future.

“We need young enthusiastic people to work alongside our experienced talent,” she said. “Young talent is the inspiration for change.”

Molly said she was benefiting from her internship. She said: “I’ve really enjoyed it. I’ve had jobs before, but never in a business environment like this. I’ve learnt a lot about business at university, so it’s nice to actually be in the environment and do some work. You do learn things in lectures and it’s nice to get the chance to put that knowledge into practice. It would definitely be good to come back here after I finish my degree.”

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Kavita said: “It’s worked out really, really well. We’re rotating Molly every three months into different areas of the business and she’s now working on various projects for our clients. One of Molly’s rotations will be marketing. But in order to do the marketing she needs to understand all areas of the business first. So she’s started supporting the call answering aspect of the hub.

“In addition, some of our larger clients, like Mercedes, have been tapping into us for temporary staffing. So if they’re short on numbers, they’ll ask us to go and do some front-of-house work. Molly’s done a bit of that as well.”